Pond life - Tubifex tubifex

[Bilbo_baggin]

If you have a garden pond (or you look closely in larger ponds where you might go fishing) or in posh peoples fish-tanks, you will probably find Tubifex tubifex - aka the sludge worm.


This aquatic angleworm is right at home in mucky water. Sometimes called a sludge worm, it can even live in highly polluted waters. It buries its head in the bottom mud to eat while letting its tail wave in the current. Just like a land worm, an aquatic worm eats mostly dead plants. If a particularly juicy dead animal is nearby it will munch on that too, just as long as it doesn't have to travel too far. This worm breathes through its skin and can live where there is hardly any oxygen. It is both male and female at the same time!


I had the Venus and the newly diffused flash on for these, but I did clone out a couple of small bright spots, which were not the flash being problematic, more white bits in the water - they looked messy so I got rid of them. You'll spot a few more things in there as well which live in water, roundhorn snails, water louse, daphnia, etc., all living in perfect harmony!



















Paul.